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Install Fuchsia on a NUC

This document describes how to get a NUC up and running with Fuchsia.

1. Get Parts

You need the following:

  • USB 3.0 Drive
  • NUC
  • RAM
  • m.2 SSD
  • Keyboard
  • Monitor that supports HDMI
  • HDMI cable
  • Ethernet cable
  • Magnetic tip phillips head screwdriver

This table shows some example parts you can get from Amazon.

Item Link Notes:
NUC B01MSZLO9P Get a NUC7 (Kaby Lake) or NUC6 (Skylake) for GPU support.
RAM B01BIWKP58 Works fine.
SSD B01IAGSDJ0 Works fine. You only need one of these SSDs.
SSD B00TGIVZTW Works fine.
SSD B01M9K0N8I Works fine.
Monitor B015WCV70W Works fine.
HDMI Cable B014I8SIJY Works fine.
Keyboard B00B7GV802 Works fine. It also includes a mouse.
USB 3.0 drive B01BGTG41W Works fine.

2. Prepare the NUC

NUCs don’t come with RAM or an SSD, so you need to install them.

Follow the instructions to install the RAM and SSD on the NUC:

  1. Remove the phillips screws in the bottom feet of the NUC.

  2. Install the RAM.

  3. Remove the phillips screw that will hold the SSD in place (phillips screwdriver with magnetic tip is useful here).

  4. Install the SSD.

  5. Screw the SSD in place using screw from Step 3.

  6. Replace bottom and screw feet back in.

  7. Plug power, ethernet cable, HDMI, and keyboard into the NUC.

  8. Plug the other end of the ethernet cable into your build workstation or the router/switch that connects to your build workstation.

3. Enable EFI booting

  1. Reboot NUC.
  2. Press F2 while booting to enter BIOS.
  3. In the Boot Order window on the left, click the Legacy tab.

  4. Uncheck ‘Legacy Boot’.

  5. Click the Advanced button and confirm the following boot configuration:

    1. Select the Boot Priority tab.
      1. Check UEFI Boot.
      2. Set USB the first entry in the boot order.
    2. Select the Boot configuration tab.
      1. Check Boot Network Devices Last.
      2. Check Unlimited Network Boot Attempts.
      3. Check USB boot devices.
      4. Set Network boot to UEFI PXE & iSCSI.

  6. Select the Secure Boot tab and uncheck Secure Boot.

  7. Press F10 to save the changes and exit BIOS.

If you want to remotely manage the device, see Remote Management for NUC.

4. Build Fuchsia

  1. Follow the getting started guidelines. Make sure to use the board configuration x64 when running fx set. For example fx set core.x64.

5. Pave Fuchsia

  1. Plug your USB key into your build workstation.
  2. Identify the path to your USB key by running fx list-usb-disks.
  3. Create a Zedboot USB by running fx mkzedboot /path/to/usb/disk.
  4. Plug the Zedboot USB key into the NUC and boot it.
  5. When Zedboot is started, press Alt+F3 to switch to a command line prompt.
  6. Run lsblk on the device. Take note of the HDD or SSD's block device path.
    1. An example path looks like /dev/sys/platform/pci/00:17.0/ahci/sata0/block
  7. Run install-disk-image init-partition-tables --block-device <BLOCK_DEVICE_PATH> on the device to wipe and initialize the partition tables on the NUC. Use the block device path from the previous step.
  8. Run fx serve on your workstation to install Fuchsia on the NUC.
  9. After paving is completed, disconnect the USB key.